Discharge chute...

I'm probably going to get a ton of suggestions from both sides of the road on this one but here goes:

I've given some thought to removing my discharge chute on the ZTR, but haven't done so as I'm afraid that if something shoots out of my deck it'll be flying mach 1 at about 4 feet in the air vs. being directed downward with the chute on. Reason for removal is simply so I can cut closer to objects on the right side of the mower. I've seen numerous pictures of other LCO's equipment with the chute removed, is this a huge hazzard?

IMO there appears to be some safety issues with doing this. Am I correct or is it really not a problem?